Latvala Royals: Bloodlines

by Danielle Bourdon

  It occurred to Elias as he moved deeper into the castle that something seemed amiss. He couldn’t at first place the peculiar niggle at the back of his mind until he realized that the walls and side tables were all but bare of personal belongings. In the foyer, there had been beautiful vases, stone statues, and elaborate paintings presented in gilt frames. The farther from the foyer he went, the more it appeared that everything of worth had been moved toward the front of the castle. A vain attempt to impress or deceive visitors into believing Weithan Isle was still a wealthy nation. The staged elegance was nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Subterfuge. Here in the back hallways, stripped of nearly all décor, the reality of the situation could not be more obvious: the Novaks had hawked their belongings little by little just to stay afloat.

  To see firsthand proof of the Novaks’ hardship bothered Elias more than he wanted to admit.

  Valentina might be a scheming murderess, but that did not mean everyone else was as well. Adults would be affected by the downturn, as would the children.

  As he came upon the east solarium, Elias set those thoughts aside and entered the room through a double set of French doors.

  Casual but elegant garden furniture in a salmon rose pattern dominated the center of the spacious room, while large potted plants lined tall glass walls. The floor was white, as were the pots. Overhead, situated in the center of a domed glass ceiling, hung a chandelier that could have belonged in a fairy tale. Whimsical green glass leaves, glass flowers, and hovering hummingbirds made up the centerpiece that shone mellow light over the collection of furniture and a single woman lounging on a chaise with a drink in her hand.

  Elias paused ten feet from Valentina, assessing what he could see of her profile. The way she hunkered into the cushions, with an index finger restlessly dragging around the rim of her glass, suggested she was suffering deep melancholia. Her dark hair had been messily arranged atop her head and secured with glittering pins, while her long white dress seemed perfect for maximum comfort rather than style. Like the deeper parts of the castle, Elias noticed the lack of trinkets and extra décor in this room, as well as on the woman herself. She wore no bracelets, no rings, no expensive fine jewelry.

  He could not feel sorry for her, no matter Weithan Isle’s economic troubles nor her sullen mood. Elias steeled his spine and went on the attack.

  “The assassin you hired has been caught before he could finish the task you gave him, and is currently in a holding cell prepared to make an official statement fingering you as the one who ordered the assassination attempts on Inari Ascher’s life,” Elias said. The lies slipped almost too easily from his lips.

  Valentina gasped and twisted around, the glass falling out of her hand. The vessel hit the floor and shattered, splattering red wine across the clean white tile.

  “You. What are you doing here? Guards!” Valentina braced a hand over her heart and struggled to stand.

  Only when she faced him did Elias understand Jeremiah’s warning.

  Valentina looked like death. Pale skin, sunken eyes, deep wrinkles. Her assistants were wizards in the makeup department, Elias decided, because Valentina never looked this bad on television or in the papers.

  “I suggest you quiet yourself and listen,” Elias said. He’d passed no guards in the hallway, but if she continued to shout, someone would come running soon enough. “Cease the threat to Inari Ascher immediately, or I’ll see to it that your failed assassin gets all the media attention he can handle—worldwide. Don’t think your status as princess will save you from prosecution. It won’t. You’ll rot in jail, stripped of anything you hold dear, while the tabloids have a field day smearing your name from one end of the earth to the other. This isn’t just about you. It’s about your son and how it’ll affect him as well. He’s not aware that his own mother put out a hit on the woman he loves, is he?”

  Elias didn’t think Valentina could get any paler than she already was. But she did, skin turning white as a sheet, her eyes widening in shock at the threat.

  And it was a threat. Elias loathed pulling such a low-handed move, yet the alternative was to allow Valentina free rein to murder whomever she liked.

  Hell no. He wouldn’t stand for it.

  “I’ll have you thrown straight into the dungeon, never to be seen or heard from again,” Valentina said.

  “Your sordid history with my family means that I took steps in advance to prevent that from happening. People know I’m here. They know what I came here to do. If I suddenly go missing, there will be a bigger inquiry than you’re already going to get. Unlike you, I made contingency plans, Valentina. All it’ll take is one wrong step from you to set actions in motion that can never be undone. So you go ahead and squawk all you want to, but we both know that I’m going to walk out of here and you’re not going to say a thing. You’re going to leave Inari alone, in all ways, or your life will cease to exist as you know it.”

  Valentina took a step forward. “You’re bluffing.”

  She was right. He was. He’d taken all the information at hand and made educated guesses. Standing before her now, there was no doubt in his mind that not only had he made the right decision to come here, but that he’d been right all along.

  Valentina was guilty as hell. Her reactions might as well have been vocal confessions.

  “By all means, then. Call your guards. Lock me up.” Instead of taking a step back, he took a step forward. “Let’s see how long it takes before my men release the videotape of your hapless assassin, and the world gets to see yet another side of Valentina Novak. It should do wonders for Weithan’s already questionable reputation. Your actions were the ones who put your country in jeopardy all those years ago, Valentina, and you’re about to double down. I’d think twice, if I were you.”

  She made fists at her sides. A ruddy flush overtook her cheeks and her eyes gleamed with hatred. “You’re just like your father.”

  “I am,” he said with a sudden smile. “But I also inherited my mother’s complete inability to deal with bullshit. This is the only warning you’re going to get. Take heed, Valentina. I’ll do exactly as I said I would do if you harm one hair on Inari’s head. Are we clear?”

  “You have no idea what you’re meddling in, young prince. I think you’re in over your head—”

  Elias pulled his cell phone from his pocket. He took two steps back and turned, calling up a number on the screen. “It’s me. Release the tapes to the media first thing in the morning.”

  “Wait!”

  Elias jerked his arm out of Valentina’s clutching grip. She’d closed the distance faster than he thought she might. “Confess, Valentina, and I’ll put a stop to the order. Tell me that you won’t go after Inari again. Make me believe it.”

  “Hang up!” Valentina hissed. “Yes. I ordered Inari’s assassination. But you don’t understand—”

  “I don’t need anything but to hear that you understand my conditions. Yes or no. They’re waiting.” He held his phone aloft indicatively.

  “Yes. Yes, dammit. Put the phone away,” Valentina said.

  Elias stared hard. Looking for deception. All he saw was fear and desperation. He put the phone to his ear and cancelled his former order. Once done, he slid the phone away and said, “You’re very lucky that Lisbet Ascher didn’t die. Regardless of what it would do to the rest of your family, and how negatively it would impact Weithan Isle, I would have broadcast that tape far and wide.”

  Without giving her time to respond—he had what he’d gone there to get, her confession—Elias stalked out of the solarium and headed toward the front of the castle. Along the way, he sent a discreet message to Jeremiah.

  It’s done. Meet me in the car.

  Elias explained to the butler at the door that he’d received word of a family emergency and wouldn’t be staying. He asked the man to give Severian his apologies, then swept out into the night.

  Jeremiah was already in the sedan when Elias slid into the back seat.

  �
�Well?” Jeremiah asked as the sedan swerved away from the castle.

  Elias pulled a voice recorder from his other pocket. “She confessed, and I’ve got it on tape.”

  Chapter 22

  Inari woke up draped over the desk in the Crypt. It was a slow process of remembering where she was and why she was there, along with knuckling her eyelids and yawning until she reached a higher state of awareness.

  Her fingers traced several track marks in her cheek from where she’d lain across an open book. Talk about out of it. She’d researched until some early hour she could not fathom, then had decided to just ‘rest her head’ for a little while. She guessed she’d probably slept two hours, at most.

  After stifling a yawn, she pushed up from the chair and stepped into the gloomy hallway. Even with the lights shining overhead, shadows lurked everywhere.

  “Has there been an update from my father?” Inari asked Bero. “What time is it?”

  “There has, Your Highness,” Bero said. He paused to check the time on his wristwatch. “It’s almost one o’clock.”

  “In the afternoon?” Inari couldn’t believe it was that late.

  “Yes, Your Highness.” Bero lowered his hand. “Your father has sent for you. As soon as you woke, he wanted you to depart Imatra for Somero.”

  “What’s the matter? Has Lisbet taken a turn for the worse?” She immediately started off down the hallway, resisting the urge to break into a run.

  “No, Your Highness. There is news about the assassin.”

  Inari paused at the base of the stairs to glance back. “Have they caught the man, then?”

  “Indeed. Not only that, but Elias Ahtissari arrived at Somero earlier and has been cloistered away with your father. I don’t have every detail, but the word is Elias has effectively nullified the threat.”

  Inari’s mind spun into a hundred different scenarios at once. She raced up the stairs onto the main floor with no less than eight guards in her wake.

  “I want to depart immedi—”

  “The limousine is already waiting. Your father has spoken with King Aleksi and given his gratitude for harboring you,” Bero said.

  Inari felt a duty to thank Aleksi herself. It seemed cordial, what a future queen should do. But the urgency to return home overwhelmed her, and she convinced herself that Aleksi would understand.

  She nodded briskly to Bero and headed for the castle doors.

  Spotting one of Aleksi’s personal assistants near the entrance, Inari veered in his direction. “Excuse me. Please pass on my extreme gratitude to His Majesty for giving me shelter. I regret that I cannot remain long enough to tell him myself.”

  “Your Highness,” the assistant said with a polite nod. “I will pass on your message. He is aware of the circumstances and has arranged to have everything ready for your immediate departure.”

  “Excellent. Thank you again.” Inari turned toward the open doors.

  She couldn’t reach Somero fast enough.

  * * *

  Elias shouldn’t have been surprised whatsoever to find his father, Sander, waiting in the king’s library in the Ascher stronghold. Sander had been standing near Thane, a drink in hand, his neutral expression giving nothing away.

  Thane, however, had looked quite agitated and restless.

  Elias had wasted no time engaging Thane first, intuitively guessing that the king wanted answers, and wanted them now. Elias patiently explained the entire situation, beginning to end, leaving nothing out. He refused to show shame or regret for his actions, holding his head high while he detailed all Valentina’s reactions and confessions. He’d brought forth the recorder—to which both kings looked mildly surprised—and played Valentina’s confessions for them to hear.

  It was a serious situation, he knew. He’d taken another king’s matters into his own hands. Had taken the lead, taken immeasurable risks.

  Now he stood before Thane and his father, hands in the pockets of his slacks, waiting to see just how pissed off Thane really was. He supposed the king could do anything, from banishing him on Somero land, to ending their country’s alliance, to refusing to allow him and Inari to meet. Thane might bring charges—there was no telling. Elias had always thought Thane was a more controlled man than that, but the near death of Lisbet and the assassination attempts on Inari might change things.

  “Let me tell you what you don’t know,” Thane said. “Caspian and Erick, along with a cadre of my best men, managed to route the assassin last night and the man is, and has been, in my custody. He confessed the exact same things you have said here today, and is willing to give evidence against Valentina should I decide to go after her for attempted murder. Everything fits. We have her, and the assassin, dead to rights.”

  Elias finally had answers to his brother and Caspian’s success. He found himself surprised at Thane’s conversational tone, though the king’s body language suggested he still harbored an aggressive attitude toward the entire situation.

  “Will you prosecute her?” Elias dared to ask.

  “My initial reaction is to say hell yes. She nearly succeeded in killing Lisbet.” Thane thrust a hand through his dark hair and paced near the fireplace. “But once word gets out, all the sordid details will come with it. The media will have a field day. Both our families, mine and Valentina’s, will be dragged through the mud for months. Every angle that could possibly be thought up will be exploited, ad nauseam. Untruths will run rampant, lies will be told. I’m not sure I want to do that to Inari and Lisbet.”

  Elias detected a but in there somewhere. He glanced at his father, who had remained remarkably silent the whole time, and still could not read any emotion in Sander’s face. No anger, no censure, no pride.

  He might be in more trouble with his old man than Inari’s.

  “I’ll be honest,” Elias said, returning his attention to Thane. “I felt like Valentina was concerned about the truth getting out, and that she was most fearful of Wolfe’s reaction. What it would do to their relationship. Wolfe, in my opinion, would probably never forgive her. However, I also think you can’t trust a snake, and that she’ll strike again given the first opportunity. I think she’ll try and throw suspicion elsewhere, make another attempt look like an accident. Car crash, plane crash, things like that. I’m not sure I’d trust her to back off for good.”

  “That was my next line of thinking,” Thane said. “Especially if Wolfe continues to harbor deep feelings for Inari. Money is a grand motivator, unfortunately, and Weithan Isle’s troubles have been common knowledge for years. She may see removing Inari from Wolfe’s life as her only course of action to save a failing state. For that reason, I intend to use all the proof at my disposal to put her away for good.”

  “To keep Inari safe, I think it’s your only course of action. I wish I could say that I thought Valentina would honor her word, or that fear would continue to stay her hand. But I don’t. Not in the long term. Not if Weithan Isle’s economic troubles persist, or worsen. Valentina will probably spend a few weeks hiding then grow more bold and desperate,” Elias said.

  “Speaking of bold,” Thane said, still pacing, “I understand the reasons why you did what you did, but you should have come to me first. Let me decide the best course of action.”

  “I would have, if there’d been more time. Our situation changed every few hours as more information came to light.” That, at least, wasn’t a lie. First he’d considered haunting the next parade or charity event to get a glimpse of the assassin, then the following second, they’d been off to Weithan Isle. One had to be as flexible and fluid as the situation demanded.

  “Next time, call me during the flight,” Thane said with a wry twist to his lips.

  “I will.” Elias couldn’t deny he’d had time to do that. Thane didn’t seem overly angry, though Elias still couldn’t decide what his father was thinking. Sander had remained silent and contemplative.

  “I’m going to grab a few hours of sleep,” Elias said. “I’ll leave the recorder
in your care. Good evening.”

  “Thank you, Elias. For everything,” Thane said.

  Elias paused to smile. “You’re welcome.”

  “I’ll join you,” Sander said to Elias. He stopped to shake Thane’s hand then swerved toward the door.

  Elias beat his father to the hallway and waited. He knew what was coming; he just didn’t know the direction of Sander’s mood.

  A strong hand landed on his shoulder once his father closed the door.

  “The apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree,” Sander said with a quiet chuckle.

  In that moment, Elias knew everything would be all right.

  Chapter 23

  Inari’s first course of action when she stepped into Somero Palace was to find her sister. She bypassed heavy security at the doors, in the hallways, and at the entrance to Lisbet’s suite. Her petite sister looked a disaster in bed. Pale skin, dark circles under her eyes, mussed blond hair.

  Inari only cared that she was alive and breathing.

  She spent an hour telling Lisbet everything that had happened since the initial drugging at Imatra Castle, careful to watch for clues that Lisbet was becoming overtired or didn’t have the energy for such a complicated story. Lisbet surprised her with her determination and stamina, such as it was. By the end of the second hour, though, Lisbet was visibly flagging. Inari dropped a fond kiss on her sibling’s brow and left her to sleep.

  At the door, Inari paused to look back. She made a promise to herself, then and there, that she would never take Lisbet’s presence in her life for granted again. She would spend more quality time with her and her brother. Have more family meals, take trips, just the three of them. It was too easy to get caught up in royal duties, galas and balls, and other worldly events. The most important things were right there beneath that roof. Those were the relationships she needed to nurture and covet, the people she needed to protect.